Last spring and summer, Philadelphia-based ska punk band Catbite hit the road for a tour with their Bad Time Records labelmates We Are the Union and Kill Lincoln. Their June stop in New Orleans happened to coincide with Community Records’ big anniversary block party at Tipitina’s, and local ska punk bands Bad Operation and Joystick hopped on the tour for a few dates.
A lot of audio and video was captured on the Bad Time Records tour, and late last year the label released the live album “This is New Tone” — a chant led by Bad Operation’s Dominic Minix kicks things off. Featuring Catbite, Bad Operation, We Are the Union, Kill Lincoln, JER, J. Navarro & the Traitors, Omnigone and more, it’s an impressive compilation (a documentary also is coming this year) that captures a key community in the resurgent U.S. ska scene. And as one of the first bands signed to Bad Time Records, Catbite has been front row to that resurgence.
Ska “is in a good state right now,” says Catbite guitarist Tim Hildebrand. “I feel like for a while, it was every band for itself, and there wasn’t a sense of community … When we were kind of forced to be in lockdown, while ska was starting to become a little more popular, I think a lot of bands started to collaborate with each other.”
Catbite returns to New Orleans for a show with Bad Operation and punk band Coworkers on Thursday, May 2, at the Broadside.
Hildebrand, singer-keyboardist Brit Luna, bassist Ben Parry and drummer Chris Pires formed Catbite in 2018 and had only played a handful of shows when they recorded their self-titled debut. The album was picked up by Bad Time Records, which itself had just been started by Kill Lincoln singer-guitarist Mike Sosinski, and Catbite began to build a reputation for its fun, genre-blending take on ska — there’s a lot of punk, power pop and upbeat two-tone influences mixed in.
The band made big plans to start touring in 2020, but the world shut down a week before their first road date. So Catbite turned the momentum they had been building toward engaging new listeners on the internet and writing and recording their sophomore album, “Nice One.” Their first real concert back was the release show for it in August 2021.
"Nice One” builds and focuses on what Catbite started on their first album, and their second full-length is highly regarded. The vinyl version of the album is now on its fourth pressing, and Catbite decided to issue a new deluxe edition with a few new tracks putting country and hardcore spins on the songs.
In early 2021, “Nice One” was finished. But with a few months until the release, Catbite was looking for ways to keep busy. They tossed around some ideas, Hildebrand says, and aimed to record an acoustic version of their debut album. The new recordings, though, started to take on an alt-country vibe and the band leaned into it.
“Catlite” is a complete countrified version of their debut album. And already running with the ideas, the band turned around and recorded a hardcore interpretation, “Catfite.”
“It definitely helped us, number one, stop from losing our minds during the pandemic, but it also helped us think outside of the box and help our creativity,” Luna says. “We did that and now we know we could add a little bit of that into the next record if we wanted.”
Bad Operation believes in the joyous retaliation of ska.
The success of Catbite’s sound comes from the different musical interests of its members, Hildebrand and Luna say. Parry is an avid country fan, while Pires has played in hardcore bands in the past. The band covers Selena’s “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” on their latest album in a nod to Luna’s Latine heritage and a thriving Latin ska scene.
Catbite is starting work this year on its next record, the band says. While they’re still in the writing stage, they’re excited to build on “Nice One,” Luna says.
“I think we found our Catbite sound on the last record,” she says. “We’re taking that and even furthering it on this new record.”
Find Catbite’s music and more at catbite.net. Catbite performs at 10 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at the Broadside. Tickets are $15 advance via broadsidenola.com and $20 day of the show.
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